The popularity of shooting sports continues to increase both in the United States and abroad. In addition to the numerous Olympic shooting events, thousands of amateur and professional sanctioned shooting events are held across various countries around the world each year. Indeed, numerous such events sanctioned by various clubs and organizations hold international competitions and championship matches.
One such shooting sport that traces its beginnings to 1979, and that has experienced explosive growth worldwide over the last several years, is known as Cowboy Action Shooting™. This shooting sport, and various variants thereof, are regulated by the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) and other like organizations and shooting clubs across the globe. In this sport, the participants are required to demonstrate their shooting skills with guns that date from circa 1860 to the turn of the century, or modern day replicas of such guns. This particular shooting sport brings back a sense of the American frontier of the mid to late 1800s. Indeed, in SASS sanctioned events the participants are required to dress in period costumes and utilize period sounding names. Such sanctioned events also include separate classes for percussion (cap and ball), black powder cartridge, and smokeless cartridge guns. Further, traditional and modern classes are included to differentiate firearms that utilize, for example, fixed versus adjustable sights.
While initially Cowboy Action Shooting™ was primarily a sport engaged in the United States, the shooting of historic and replica firearms is catching on at an accelerating rate worldwide. While the reasons for this worldwide increase in the popularity of shooting such historic revolvers may be largely a factor of the nostalgia and romance of the period from which these firearms are based, i.e. the mid-1800 American frontier, other reasons may be much more practical.
For example, one country that has embraced the shooting of historic revolvers is Great Britain. While the British have had a long history of Police Pistol matches and club shooting, a fairly recent act of Parliament, the Firearms (Amendment) Act of 1997, expanded the long-standing prohibition of certain handguns. Since the enactment of the Firearms Act of 1997, the only legal firearms that have a barrel less than 30 centimeters in length or that are less than 60 centimeters in length overall are air weapons, small caliber pistols, muzzle-loading guns, or a firearm designed as a signaling apparatus. Under this Act, a small caliber pistol is defined as a pistol chambered for .22 or smaller rim-fire cartridges. However, such small caliber pistols are not particularly useful in many of the shooting competitions, nor are air pistols. However, this Act does allow muzzle-loading guns, which are defined as a gun designed to be loaded at the muzzle end of the barrel or chamber with a loose charge and a separate ball (or other missile). Such guns have long been used in shooting competitions.
As a direct result of the Firearms (Amendment) Act of 1997, the number of individuals and private clubs that sponsor Historic Revolver black powder shooting competitions has increased dramatically. Indeed, in Great Britain Historic Revolver is a fast-growing black powder discipline that closely assimilates the now defunct Police Pistol matches which were so popular before the loss of cartridge pistols with the 1997 Firearms Act. Currently, an extensive program of Historic Revolver leagues are run in Great Britain that are suitable for “spirit of the original” and free percussion revolvers (such as Ruger Old Army revolvers).
However, as more people become involved in shooting black powder muzzle-loading cap and ball revolvers, more people understand why cartridge ammunition and smokeless powder easily replaced this technology. That is, the use of black powder in such firearms presents a number of challenges and problems that must be specifically addressed at all times to prevent or minimize the dangers posed to the participants as well as damage to the revolvers themselves.
First, it should be understood that black powder is an explosive, and therefore presents significant risk to those around it. This is contrasted with modern-day smokeless gunpowder which is defined as a propellant and not specifically an explosive. Indeed, a number of the rules regulating black powder muzzle-loading shooting events concentrate on black powder safety in restricting smoking, the amount, and storage requirements for the black powder for such firearms. Further, the dangers posed by black powder do not end when placed in the muzzle-loading cylinder of a revolver. Specifically, if the ball is not packed tightly enough onto the powder within the cylinder of the muzzle-loading revolver, the explosion of the black powder may actually cause damage to the cylinder, including “blowing up” of the gun itself.
Additionally, the fire produced by the black powder when one chamber is fired may result in a chain fire of other chambers not aligned with the barrel. This “chain fire” results from the ignition of black powder within other chambers resulting from the flashback from the fired chamber into these other chambers. To prevent this problem, many shooters apply grease to the mouth of each chamber over the top of the ball. This grease will help to extinguish or not pass the fire from the chamber being fired, and serves the supplemental purpose of aiding in the cleaning of the gun and lubrication of the barrel, bore, and cylinder pin, allowing many more shots to be fired accurately. Alternatively, some shooters use a greased wad between the black powder and ball, such as an Ox Yoke Wonder Wad for this same purpose.
Another problem with which the participants in such Historic Revolver shooting sports must contend is the smoke produced when the black powder muzzle-loading revolver is fired. Specifically, the smoke and residue of the black powder is corrosive, and will pit the firearm if it is not cleaned thoroughly after each competition. This extensive cleaning requirement presents a problem for many original and replica black powder muzzle-loading firearms as they are not easily disassembled for such purpose. Further, the sheer amount of smoke that is generated each time a black powder revolver is fired also presents a problem to many participants and shooting facilities. That is, participants who suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems may find the amount of smoke produced during such shooting competitions to be problematic. Similarly, many indoor shooting clubs do not allow the use of black powder for indoor competitions as their ventilation system is unable to appropriately deal with the amount and corrosive nature of the smoke produced during such shooting competitions.
While modern smokeless powder overcomes many of these problems associated with black powder, such high pressure nitrocellulose propellant is available only in or for cartridge ammunition, which is specifically prohibited in Great Britain. Further, such modern-day smokeless powder is unsuitable for historic and replica muzzle-loading revolvers that utilize percussion caps on nipples to ignite the black powder. As such, there exists a need in the art for a replacement cylinder for historic and replica muzzle-loading revolvers that allows the use of modern day smokeless powder.